The Pervasive Mac vs. Windows vs. Linux Analogy

I'm sure everyone has seen the Mac vs. PC ads on TV where the Mac appears to be confident while th PC is in denial about its deficiencies. Missing from that picture is Linux which is robust, but seeks no attention because it has no commercial ambitions.

This Mac vs. PC vs. Linux model can serve as a analogy for many things/phenomena. I would like to make a list of those analogies here.
For example, The New York Times recently characterized Hillary as a PC and Obama as a mac on the basis of the design of their websites. The analogy would also work if you think of Hillary as the status quo much like Windows, and Obama as the new thing with great promise, cachet and appeal like the newly reborn mac. It is not obvious who would play the role of Linux, but my choice would be Ron Paul. He has some bold and independent ideas along with a very loyal following even though he has no chance of winning.

	PC	Mac	Linux
Candidate	Hillary Clinton	Barack Obama	Ron Paul
States	Northeast	West Coast	Vermont
City	New York City	San Francisco	Austin, TX/ Asheville, NC
Cable Channels	All of them	None of them	PBS/CSPAN
Software Companies	Microsoft	Google	?Ubuntu?

Comments

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